Mertado YC Application

Winter 2010Acquired

Mertado went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2010 batch as a B2B company. Below: what the company does, who founded it, and its application to YC, reconstructed question by question in the real YC form.

YC batch: Winter 2010
Industry: B2BRetail
Team size: 1
Status: Acquired
Launched: 2012

Founders

Vijay ChittoorFounder/CEO
Mehul ShahFounder/CTO
Rajiv BhatFounder

What Mertado does

Mertado Mertado is an online social shopping platform that allows consumers to discover and buy products from communities they frequently visit.

Mertado's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Mertado, Winter 2010 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Mertado

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Social shopping platform for product discovery

What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.

We built Mertado to connect online shoppers with communities they already trust and frequent, allowing them to discover and buy products recommended within those groups. It combines social interaction with e-commerce to help users discover products through social context rather than traditional search or ads.

Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?

We live in Redwood City, CA, and plan to base the company here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Redwood City is where all of us currently live and work, and being in the Bay Area keeps us close to the tech ecosystem and potential partners.

21 more answers in the full application

Founders, Progress, Idea, Equity, Curious, Batch Preference are in the full version. Create a free account to open it in YC Insights, next to every other YC batch.

See full application

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the real Mertado YC application?

No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from Mertado's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like Mertado would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.